Until Midnight
by Rannaty
Summary: Citronshipping. AU, ancient Egypt. Malik had heard horrible stories what happened to children kidnappen by thieves. As a thief, Bakura could appreciate pretty things.
1. Chapter 1 Kid Kidnapped

**A/N: **I have been wanting to write something like this for a while but since I already have two on-going stories, I was a bit hesitant to start a new one. The title, 'Until Midnight' has very little to do with the story, I made plans on paper and it was getting late so I decided to write until twelve and then go to sleep, that inspired the title.

* * *

Darkness was starting to settle on a town near the palace walls. The town was separated from the main one by a short distance, that was were all the palace workers, like guards, lived. A boy not much older than 13 was outside with a few other kids near his age, they had stayed out the whole day but now their parents were starting to call them back home. They knew that the darkness would come quickly when the sun started setting and it was better to be in doors by the time it did. 

One boy was called by a taller tanned and bald man. The man was in duty in the palace tonight and since the third member of their small family was having her priestess training, the youngest member would have to be alone that night unless he came with his older brother to the palace. They had made it so that the boy would go with his brother and stay in a small servant room as the older took care of his duties.

The young boy was commonly known as Malik, he lived with his adopted older brother and sister near the palace. When their parents had died five years ago in the great fire that nearly burned down the whole town, Rishid, the oldest of the three, had made their guardian. Rishid had been adopted by their parents when they still lived and had became a permanent part of the family. The older sister Isis was a priestess in training and because of that, she was away a lot, leaving the other two by themselves.

Torches were lit to drive away the night. They entered the palace grounds through a small door, hidden from the viewers. The boy was shown to his room and told to go to bed. Of course he was too excited to go to sleep yet so he stayed up and looked around, first in the room, then he glanced out from the small window. He was told not to leave the room until his brother came for him in the morning but his curiosity was starting to get the best of him. How could he pass up this chance to explore?

Slowly he peeked out of the door, seeing a servant in the end of the hall, coming closer, he quickly with threw his head and waited for the servant to pass the door. When he heard the footsteps getting farther away from the door, he carefully looked out again. Seeing no one he stepped out and closed the door after him, careful not to cause any sound, he made his way down the hallway. Making sure that no one saw him by being on constant look-out, peeking behind corners and glancing behind him, even hiding once from a guard and running quickly away when he saw a person coming towards him.

The fast pace he was moving around with made him get lost quickly. Malik no longer had any idea where he was or how he could get back to his room. There was really not that much to see in this part of the palace anyway and he was a bit disappointed. Just endless hallways with dull stone walls and a few people here and there. Everything looked the same...

"Hey! What are you doing here?" Yelled an angry voice from behind him and he bolted to run. Footsteps followed him no matter how fast he ran and he was known to be a fast runner.

Starting to panic, he ran through the halls and past many rooms, bumping to someone on the way but not caring. The chasers seemed to be multiplying, if anything could be concluded by the sounds of running feet behind him. He knew that he was in deep shit now and regret ever leaving the safety of his room. His siblings had always told him that he should learn how to control his curiosity and stop sticking his nose into other people's busyness. He should have listened to them when he still had the chance. Now he was probably going to jail from trespassing and he would never see his family again.

Malik prayed the gods that they would save him or just make the ground swallow him, anything as long as it got him out of this.

One should also be careful what they ask for, they might just get it.

* * *

In the darkness of the night, a lone figure made his way through the palace grounds, skillfully avoiding the guards. Bakura hadn't got the title of the King of the Thieves by getting caught after all. 

His red cloak flapped behind him as he ran and pressed against a wall near the way in to the palace. Making sure that no one would see him slip in, he opened the door enough for him to fit in and stepped in to the torch lit space. The destination wasn't far from here, if the information he had gotten from his inside man was true. The fools who wanted the riches he could attain were always handy.

Little did he expect to hear yelling and running footsteps farther down the halls. The guards were chasing some little punk around the halls, yelling like madmen and paying little attention to anything else. This proved to be an unexpected blessing to the thief, now he could just walk in, take the goods he was after and walk back out again, odds were that no one even noticed him before it was too late and he was long gone. He smirked, making a mental note to thank the brat for this distraction, if he ever got the chance.

Not wasting any time, the man made his way quickly to the chamber the goods were kept and slipped in. he took out his sack and started stuffing in the valuables. That was when some barged in, making him turn around quickly, only to see a boy leaning against the door, clearly out of breath. He counted two plus two and got that this must be the same brat the guards were after. The thief cursed under his breath, if the kid was here, the guards would be here soon too.

The little boy's eyes grew wide as he realized that he was not alone in the room. The thief took out a knife and pressed it against the small throat in a fluid motion and the boy gasped.

"Are the guards still after you?" The man asked and the boy shook his head as much as the knife would let him.

"N-no, I think I lost them..."He whispered carefully. Why was it that just when he had lost the guards, he found himself in even more trouble? Malik had just bolted behind the corner to get away from his chasers and quickly closed himself in the nearest room he could find. It just happened to be the room Bakura was in, just his luck.

"Don't make a sound or I'll have to slit your throat." The man started his standard threats for anyone who walked in on him. The boy didn't make a sound, just stood still as if paralyzed.

Their heads snapped up as they heard the guards run past the door. Malik sighed in relief, if the guards had barged in, he would surely be dead by now.

Bakura decided that he had all he needed and could carry and that it was best if he just left while the guards were still bysu with finding the boy. Just what to do with him? Normally he just killed whoever had seen him in the act but it would be a shame to kill this one. As a thief, he could appreciate pretty things, such as the boy.

Making a quick decision, he grabbed the boy and gagged him with a piece of cloth, the boy made a muffled sound as he bid his hands with a short rope. As a thief he also came well prepared in all situations. He threw the boy to his shoulder, the treasure to the other and made his way out of the room, making sure not to be seen.

His midnight black horse was waiting a little way of the wall. Mounting the horse and placing the boy in front of him and loading the treasure behind them, he gave the horse a signal to get moving and the horse was quick to gallop into the night, disappearing from sight into the darkness.

Malik didn't know what he had gotten himself into but he feared the worst. He had heard horrible stories of what happened to little children that were kidnapped by thieves. Some say that they ate children for dinner with wine and made clothes out of their skin. Then again, he had heard from the older kids that it was just a way to keep the children from wandering into the dark alone and keep them away from all the strange men. He just hoped that it was true.

Malik glanced back at his kidnapper. He saw his shoulder length grayish white hair flowing in the wind and sharp silver eyes looking ahead. He turned his eyes away and looked ahead of him, not seeing very far because of the thick darkness. Malik wondered if the thief saw where he was going and just hoped that was the case, it wouldn't be very fun to ride off a cliff or something like that.

Bakura had noticed the boy glance at him from the corner of his eye. He absentmindedly wondered what was going through that little head but then decided to concentrate in ridding though his horse knew the way, he just liked to feel like he was in control of things.

They were starting to get close to his current hideout and the horse was slowing down. Soon they came to a full stop and he dismounted the horse, grabbing the goods, and the boy, with him. They went to a cave and in the distant wall he found a certain spot on the wall and pressed it, opening the wall. The opening was rather small but enough for him to fit in with his treasure. In the cave were others who turned to see who came in but soon went back to their own busynesses, except for the ones who had noticed the boy on Bakura's shoulder. They looked with great interest as the man passed them to go to his own room, carved on the cave wall.

Much to his annoyance, there seemed to be some sort of commotion going on in his room. He left the goods, and Malik, in the larger space and went to see what was going on.

Malik was left behind and he looked around with large eyes. All he could see were the shady men who stared at him like he was some kind of exotic treat. He backed as far against the wall as he could. The voices in the other room were getting louder before calming down again, all Malik was able to make out was that someone had tried to steal someone's valuables but was caught red handed.

"Aren't you a pretty little thing..." Someone said, snapping Malik's attention back to now quickly. "What's you name?" The one to address him was an older man with only one eye. He removed the gag so that he could answer.

"T-that's none of your busyness!" Malik said with defiance. The men laughed all around, sending various comments to the man's direction.

"Heh... Do I need to teach you some manners?" The person asked and reached out to grab Malik's chin. He struggled against the hold but it was no use. He felt the man let go, however, as something rather big was thrown at him.

"Don't touch him." Told Malik's kidnapper from the door way. The thing that had hit the man was another person and the man tried to get the literally dead weight off of him.

"Get up." Bakura told to the boy and dragged him up from the floor by the arm, pulling him closer in the proses. "Anyone who touches what's mine will end up like him." He nodded in the direction of the man laying on the floor. "Got it?" The other people in the room just nodded or mumbled something inaudible. "Good. You come with me."

Malik half walked, was half dragged to the other space, separated by a curtain. He looked around and saw a bed in the middle and next to the walls were piles and piles of expensive looking clothing and jewelry. The sack of the resent goods were thrown into the pile and so was Malik. He landed painfully on his backside and cried from the pain a bit. He glared at the man who jumped to lay down on the bed. So he was a part of his personal treasure now?

The boy noticed that his wrist were still tied together and started bitting the rope in order to get it to open. Bakura took notice of this and walked to him, kneeling down.

"Don't act like some animal." He said, taking the binded wrists and untying the knot himself. Malik looked at him warily, refusing to believe that he was just being nice to him. "You can't wear that dirty thing." He gestured towards Malik's clothing, which used to be white but had been dirtied by the sand and had became gray-brown color.

Bakura turned to dig something out from the huge pile of clothing and finding what he was looking for, tossing it to Malik. "Put that on."

Malik looked down on the clothing, it was a pale purple tunic. He looked at it with slight distaste, wrinkling his nose at it.

"What?" Asked Bakura, noticing the expression on the other's face. "You don't like it?" Malik shook his head. "Too bad because you really have no other choice." Malik looked up at him.

"Are you going to eat me?" He asked carefully. Bakura looked at him, not expecting the question and then bursting laughing. Malik took that as a 'no'.

* * *

**A/N:** Short, yes, but once I get things rolling the chapters will be longer, promise :) My first time writing Citronshipping... I guess you could say that there's a minor shota warning too but nothing too bad, see? It's rated only T. So what do you think? I want some honest opinions here. 

**Review please!!**


	2. Chapter 2 Inside

**A/N:** I just want to write... And my updating is so fast because I have no life...

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Last night had been the worst night in Malik's life. He hadn't been able to sleep one eye full with the noise the other people in the next room made and with his fear for them. And laying on the floor didn't help much either. When the morning finally came and the torches in the cave were lit again, he was staying awake with the mere power of adrenalin. 

The thief woke up too and sat up, getting ready to leave somewhere. He glanced to check that the boy was still there and got up. Malik's stomach made a noise, indicating that it wanted food. "I'm hungry..." He said carefully, glancing hopefully at the man. Faster than he could react, an apple made contact with his head. "Ow!" He held his head, that hurt.

"You're welcome." The thief snorted and made his way to the door. "Stay here until I get back."

Malik glared at his back. "Jerk..." He mumbled. Where was he supposed to go anyway? Nowhere with the scary men in the next room. He took a bite of his apple, getting up to look around in the room. There was a lot of all sort of interesting things, probably stolen. In the pile in the corner were jewelry, vases, coins and then there were the clothes that looked really fancy. All just lying around like that... His capturer didn't seem to be the neatest person.

Malik went to the pile and searched through it curiously. He stopped to admire a few objects and recognized some, being careful not to make a worse mess all the while. The clothes reminded him of the time when he was younger and Isis had gotten him to play a dressing up game with her. They dressed up in sheets and such, pretending that they were fancy dresses. He had heard some comments from the other boys about it but hadn't minded them. A tear rolled down his cheek when he thought of his family, wondering if he would ever see them again. Malik greatly doubted that he would, unless he somehow found a way to escape but that seemed unlikely. More tears rolled from his eyes and he sat down on the floor, hugging his knees and rocking himself slowly. He didn't even know where he were. Somewhere in the desert, but where exactly? How far was the town? They had rode so long in the darkness that there was noway he could find his way back. Malik wasn't one to give up easily but he could be realistic.

His thoughts wondered to his kidnapper. What was he going to do with him? He wasn't going to be eaten but why was he here? It wasn't like he was very valuable or could do something terribly useful. He could clean and cook some but that was about it. That and he could run like mad.

The men in the other room yelled something or other again. Why did they have to be so noisy?

"Where are you little boy?" Called a voice from the door way. Malik was conveniently sitting behind the bed so the man couldn't see him. "Come out..." The voice was closer now and and Malik's heart started to beat faster, he really didn't want to be found.

"Come on, you brat. You don't really want to stay here with him, do you?" The man asked. No, he didn't but it was better than with the scary man. Malik just had to struggle a bit to keep his mouth shut. Next time the person spoke, his voice was farther away and the boy felt relieved. "You just don't know what's good for you, do you? Suit yourself then, knowing him, he'll make you his personal pleasure toy or something."

What did he mean by that? Malik peeked carefully from his hideout and saw the makeshift door flap. The man had left. He stood up and dusted himself off, the floor was dirty. He was still wondering about what the man had said, when there was a huge sound of laughter made him jump. Couldn't those guys shut up? He felt like telling them to shut up but decided not to, it was probably better for his health anyway.

He sat on the bed and sighed. Where was the kidnapper person anyway? He had questions. Malik thought about his siblings again. Were they worried about him? Did they miss him?

* * *

"_Here, put this on!" Isis handed Malik a colorful piece of cloth. Malik took it and wrapped it around his neck. "Aw! You look so cute!"_

"_No I don't!" He said and glared. He looked ridiculous. He was wearing a sheet, Rishid's too big sandals and the colorful piece of cloth. Isis too had her own sheet but she somehow managed to look less laughable. _

"_I know!" Isis exclaimed. "I can be the princess of Egypt and you can be my sister."_

"_No way! I'm not a girl! I'm the pharaoh!" _

"_You can't be the pharaoh when you look like a girl." Isis pointed out._

"_Hey!"_

_Isis bolted to run away from her pissed of brother. He chased her around the streets and many boys his age saw him in the grab he was in too. Some laughed and pointed but he was too busy catching his sister. She was going to pay!_

* * *

The tears were threatening to fall again but he wiped his eyes stubbornly on his hand. Crying wouldn't help him now. If he wanted to get through this he needed to be strong, not some crybaby. Though he missed his family already, he couldn't just cry after them, that wouldn't get him anywhere closer to them. 

Some yelling was heard from the other space again and he glared at the makeshift door. It was probably somewhere near afternoon now, though it was difficult to say without the sun. Malik was starting to get hungry again and he wondered if there was something to eat in the room. He looked around again, finding a pot of water and a stash of fruit and dried meat.

He looked around quickly to make sure there was no one to see him and picked another apple and some meat, without forgetting to take a sip of the water. He ate very quickly to avoid getting caught, he didn't want to know what happened to those who stole from a thief. At least he had gotten terribly pissed of yesterday when someone touched his belongings. Malik frowned, now if he remembered correctly, he was referred as the thief's possession as well. Technically he had stolen him but that didn't mean that he was his, like some slave or something.

The people made some noise again but it was cut short when a distantly familiar voice yelled them to shut the hell up. Malik quickly stuffed the rest of the food in his face and went to his place in the corner, next to the treasures.

Soon the man entered the room. He huffed angrily and kicked some of his belongings out of the way. Then he suddenly stopped on his tracks and looked around, eyes narrowing. His eyes snapped at Malik who wanted nothing more then to disappear from the face of the Earth.

"You have been touching my things." The man accused.

"I was just looking around..." Malik said quietly. "I'm sorry..." He didn't feel like getting further in his bad side.

"Just don't touch anything. And don't steal from me either, you'll have to do something for the food you stole."

"How did you-? I was just hungry..."

"You should have waited for me. I won't let you starve, I take good care of my possessions." He sat on the edge of the bed, still facing Malik who wasn't too happy about being called 'possession'. "What? You have a problem with being mine?"

"Yes... I'm not some thing."

"Well, from no on you are. A little bratty thing that can't keep his hand off other people's stuff."

Malik glared. "I'm not a brat either."

"Yes you are. The not touching what's mine was the first rule, the second one is don't backtalk to me, got it?"

Malik said nothing, just stared back.

"That and do as I say, and, don't go out, unless of course, I tell you to."

Malik noticed that the rules were in weird order but didn't say anything, not being the biggest fan of being told what to do.

"And now the brat became mute..." The man muttered.

"Malik."

"What?"

"My name is not brat, it's Malik."

"Whatever." He said and flopped down on the bed, placing his hands behind his head, not saying anything after that. Malik kept sitting on the floor, arms wrapped around his knees. The floor wasn't very comfortable and he moved around to get into better position or find a softer spot on the floor.

"Stop that!" The man snapped suddenly.

"What?"

"Keep still, it's annoying."

"I'm uncomfortable."

"I don't care."

"I would stay still if I wasn't so uncomfortable." Malik tried, it was worth a shot. The thief glanced at him and threw a blanket at him.

"Now stop moving around."

"Ok, thanks." Malik placed the blanket on the floor and sat on it, it was way more comfortable than the stone floor. "What's your name?" He asked curiously. He didn't want to keep calling him 'the thief' in his head.

"Bakura."

After that it was silent, apart from few noises from the outside. A familiar shout reminded Malik of the things the man had said earlier. He frowned in thought, trying to figure it out. Then he glanced at Bakura, wondering if he knew what the man had meant and if he dared to ask. His curiosity slowly got the best of him and he just blurted his question out.

"Bakura? What's a personal pleasure toy?"

He sat up and looked strangely at Malik who just looked openly curios. "Why do you want to know that?"

"I heard a man use it and were just wondering what it was..."

"Well, it's not something a kid like you needs to know."

"I want to know."

Bakura ran a hand through his head. "It's a person who... whose only purpose is to pleasure someone else."

Malik's eyebrows knitted together. That sounded like a slave to him. "Ok..."

"Why did you want to know so bad anyway?"

Malik told about the man that had came to the room and said things like that.

"He's dead" Bakura stated but didn't do anything about it. "Telling things like that to a kid... I'm not some pedophile." He mumbled.

"What's a pedophile?"

"You don't even want to know. How old are you anyway?"

"Thirteen."

"That's... nice..." With that he flopped back down on the bed and Malik decided he could sleep a bit now, suddenly remembering that he's very tired. He wrapped the blanket around him and, using his arm as a pillow, fell asleep.

* * *

Bakura was lying down, wondering what was he supposed to do with the kid. Taking him with him had been a spur of a moment thing so he really didn't have anything planed for him. He would have to think of something useful or he'd just have to kill the brat. And then there was the fact that the brat seemed to be very nosy and not so co-operative. Though he was nice to look at, Bakura smirked as he watched Malik sleep among his other treasure. Maybe he had some special skill, he had out ran the guards after all. 

Bakura would just have to think of something.

* * *

**A/N:** The second chapter, not much longer than the first one but that felt like a good place to end it. 

**Review please!!**


	3. Chapter 3 The spirits

**A/N:** I just had to put the horse in this too. I love horses :) You'll see when you read on.

* * *

"Hey wake up kid." Bakura shook Malik awake early next morning. He had thought stuff through last night so now he actually had something he wanted to try out, just to see how things worked out. Malik woke up slowly and sat up, rubbing his eyes tiredly. 

"What? Why?" He looked up at the other who yanked him up by the arm now that he was finally awake.

"Come with me." Was the only explanation the boy got as he was dragged through the other, larger space, out of the secret entrance and into the hot sun. Malik shielded his eyes from the sudden light and followed Bakura who led him near the conveniently placed oasis.

Malik's eyes got used to the light a moment after Bakura whistled sharply and he could see the black horse from the night before gallop towards them. It was a sight to behold in the sun light and the boy watched in awe as Bakura's companion and the most priced possession quickly advanced them. It seemed that the horse wasn't going to stop and just run them over but just before the impact the horse came to a sudden halt. Bakura didn't even flinch but Malik got sand flying at him from the hooves and he stumbled backwards a few steps.

"Hey boy..." The thief greeted, petting the horse who waved his head and threatened to eat his hair. "This is Pharaoh, my horse." Bakura told to Malik who looked at the big animal warily, not being used to horses and only seen them from afar before.

Pharaoh stopped playing with his master's hair and turned to Malik, nostrils widening as he bent his head down to better examine the boy who didn't know what he was expected to do.

"Pet him kid, he's not going to eat you... Most likely." Bakura told and Malik reached hesitantly to touch the large head. The horse felt warm under his fingers and he found himself smiling at the animal.

"Hello Pharaoh..." The horse 'neigh'ed and with a sudden movement of his head sent the much smaller boy falling on the sand. "Hey!" Malik threw a handful of sand at the horse, making him bounce back a few steps and shake his head. Bakura laughed at them.

"Served you right you little runt." Malik wasn't sure if he was talking to the horse or to him, possibly both. Pharaoh turned his head towards Bakura, while keeping the other ear directed towards Malik, just in case he would try something, like throw sand at him, and trotted to him.

"You're just going to have to learn how to get along. Get up Malik and I'll teach you how to deal with him." Bakura started to walk towards the oasis, with Pharaoh in tow, and Malik quickly scrambled up to follow. Pharaoh hit Malik's face with his tail when the boy passed him and Malik glared at him. The horse didn't even seem to notice this as he trotted slowly by Bakura.

* * *

"You two would better stop that right now!" Came the angry voice of one horse owner as the two "brats", Pharaoh was only four, warred each other. Malik had apparently pocket Pharaoh with a stick to revenge the continuous hitting on the face with horse hair and the horse had pushed him in the water and now the wet Malik was chasing him around, yelling and throwing the dreaded sand at him. Hearing his master's angry yell, the horse quickly halted, causing Malik to run straight to his hind leg. Pharaoh let out a sound that almost sounded like laughing when Malik hit the ground. 

"You are impossible! Malik stop throwing sand at my horse and Pharaoh don't bully beings smaller than you!"

The horse's ears dropped a bit and Malik looked at the ground he was sitting on.

"Sorry..." The one of the two who could speak said quietly. Bakura rubbed his temples for a while before coming to get Malik so that they could head back to the cave. He patted the horse absently and pulled Malik up from the ground, once again dragging the boy with him. Pharaoh was left by the oasis as the two humans entered the cave and passed the larger space before Bakura's room. Malik noticed that one of the men was glaring at him and couldn't help but to wonder why.

"Bakura?" He whispered so that the man couldn't hear him. "Why is he looking at me like that?" The thief glanced at the man and smirked wickedly.

"He's only looking at you because he can no longer spout stupid shit without his tongue."

Malik wisely refrained from asking any more details. They entered the room and Malik remembered that he hadn't eaten all day and his stomach ached slightly. It was past midday now and they had been out since the early morning, tending Pharaoh.

"I'm hungry..." Malik said quietly.

"Again? You just ate yesterday."

Malik glared.

"I was just kidding, sheesh..." Bakura dug something out of the stash he had and handed it to Malik. It was a piece of dried meat and a cup for water. Malik helped himself with the water and ate his meat hungrily. He felt guilty for eating meat but if it was the only thing he could get then... Isis didn't eat meat so neither did the rest of the family, except Malik when he was very young and he suspected that Rishid ate it secretly some times. Bakura too ate something and sat on the edge of the bed while Malik sat on the floor, on "his place" where his blanket was.

"Tell me Malik, what was your life like before?" Bakura suddenly asked, feeling bored now.

"Why do you care?"

"I don't but entertain me."

Malik sighed and began to tell. "Well, I lived near the palace with my sister and adopted brother, they're both older than me and Rishid is mainly our guardian, he's my older brother by the way, since our parents died when the town burnt down." He paused to think where he should go with this "story". "My sister is a priestess in training and she's away a lot, Rishid is a guard in the palace. They're not home that much so I just spent my time with the other kids in the town. I know everyone!" Malik told excitedly. "They used to make fun of me when I was younger and played with my sister but not anymore, I think they're a bit scared of Rishid though..."

"Why were you in the palace that night?" Bakura asked and Malik was happy to answer, getting really into this story telling stuff.

"Isis, my sister, went to her training and Rishid had guard duty so he had to take me with him, they didn't want to leave me alone."

Bakura laughed. "You would have been better off alone."

"I guess... I was told to stay in my room but I wanted to look around and explore the palace when I had the change but then the guards saw me and chased me around. Then I went to that room where you were..." He let his voice trail off, knowing that the other knew the rest.

* * *

The night fell though you really couldn't tell inside the cave, except that tiredness began to creep and the cave turned cooler. Actually the air turned unnaturally cold and the occupants had to wrap their clothes more tightly around them to keep warm. Malik pulled the blanket more tightly around him as he felt a shiver run up his form. Bakura too could feel it but only lay on the bed with a thoughtful frown on his face. 

The coldness wasn't natural... The spirits of Kul Elna had come to pay them a visit.

Malik glanced up on the ceiling, where Bakura's eyes were too. His eyes widened at the sight. It was almost as if mist hung from the ceiling except that from time to time a part of it separated and floated down to Bakura, only to flow back up again. The mist turned redder and it was almost... speaking to them. Malik sat up on the floor when he heard a pained scream from above, it chilled his very blood. The mist almost looked like flames now and Malik tugged under his blanket, not wanting to see the flaming mist, it reminded him of the night his parents died. Though Malik couldn't see it from under his blanket, Bakura turned to look at him when he saw movement from the corner of his eye. The boy was shaking and weeping silently.

"Hey kid, are you ok?"

No answer.

"Malik?"

"Tell them to go away." Came the boy's muffled voice from under the blanket. The spirits were whispering their deadly whispers, telling him that he didn't deserve to live when they had to die, whispering about fire in the pits of hell. Soon the boy sensed Bakura kneel next to him and felt him pull the blanket away from him. Malik let out a loud wail when the only thing separating him from the spirits was taken away.

"No, please give it back!"

"No. You can sense them too?" Bakura asked but the boy kept weeping. "Hey! Look at me!" Bakura grabbed the boy's face, forcing him to snap out of it and look at him.

"They're telling me to die..." Malik whispered.

"Don't listen to them." Bakura actually hugged the boy and held him until the Ra's rays chased the vengeful spirits away. When the morning came Malik didn't weep anymore but fell asleep silently, relieved that it was over for now.

Bakura lifted the boy up and placed him on the bed carefully before exiting the cave. It seemed that he had found Malik's special talent...

* * *

_The flames were everywhere he looked, people were running, shouting and screaming. Some were trying to throw water at the flames but it was no use. _

_Malik was held by Rishid as they, the two boys and Isis, ran away from the burning town. Their parents were nowhere to be seen, the kids had been playing out and were pushed to run by their neighbor but the parents of the trio were missing. Rishid was old enough to realize that it was likely that they would never see them again but the two younger siblings kept calling for them desperately and crying. Isis was starting to get tired of the running so Rishid took her to his back while carrying Malik in his arms. They still weren't far enough to be safe. _

_When the oldest of the three saw that they were far enough, he let Isis off his back and sat tiredly on the ground. They saw the town burn to ashes in front of them but then the Gods seemed to be merciful and it started raining. It poured down from the skies and turned the flames off little by little. Some of the houses were still standing but most were just piles of ashes. The ones living should be grateful that they lived and some were but some were mourning over lost family, friends or property. _

_It felt so weird to watch when someone cried over his burnt down house when they could never see their parents again. _

* * *

Malik woke up with a start, it had been so long since he had last seen that dream... It must have been because of the life's story he told to Bakura yesterday that he was reminded of that day again. 

Then Malik also remembered what else had happened yesterday, or more like last night. The spirits had left them alone when the morning came but the night had been the worst in the young boys life. He could still hear the voices that told him that he should die like they had. He also remembered the flames in the ceiling. Malik wondered what had happened to their village to make them so angry. Bakura had told him nothing last night, but Malik just knew that the man knew. And he would find out.

Malik just hoped he wouldn't have to live that through ever again but somehow it seemed unlikely to happen. Those spirits had something to do with Bakura so as long as he was with him, the spirits wouldn't leave him alone.

* * *

**A/N:** Terribly sorry for the shortness once again .' What did you think of the chapter? Tell me, tell me! 

**Review please!!**


	4. Chapter 4 Attention

**A/N: **I just decided to make things move along a bit faster, so no fillers or anything, stuff is just going to happen, happen and happen. Of course if I get writer's block, then there might be some pointless rambling but I try to avoid that.

* * *

Malik just now realized that he wasn't lying on the floor, in stead he was on the bed and wondered how he had gotten there. He couldn't really remember completely what happened last night apart from the spirits. He had the feeling that the thief had been holding him but he wasn't sure... Why would Bakura do something like that anyway? After all, he considered Malik as property. Only an actual _person_ deserved protection. 

He decided that he had more important things to ponder on than the thief's strange behavior and got up. How come always when he woke up, Bakura was gone somewhere and he never told where he went? Not that he missed him, but it would be nicer to have breakfast already. The other had gotten angry when Malik had helped himself with the breakfast, so the boy thought it was better to wait for him this time, not to get on his bad side.

* * *

Bakura had been out since the early morning, doing some research. It had to be some use to him if the boy could see the damned spirits after all, he just needed to find out what. He knew a person from the town that might be able to help him, so he rode Pharaoh to the town and went to visit the old geezer. He had vast knowledge about ghosts and spirits, being the old member of some death worshiping cult. 

The old guy freaked him out a bit but had the piece of info he needed so he was ready to withstand the creepy-ness. After visiting the guy, he indeed came out wiser. Now knowing what to do, he decided to head back to his hideout. Now doubt the brat would already be awake and hungry. He never knew children ate so much...

* * *

"Let me guess, you're hungry right?" 

Malik indeed was but after he got his breakfast he was pretty much kicked out by Bakura. He had to do something to earn his food so he had to take care of Pharaoh who was tired from the trip and needed grooming. Malik hated the horse with a passion and was not at all happy to be taking care of it... him.

The horse trotted lazily to meet him as he came to the view of the oasis and tried to give Malik a "friendly" push.

"Oh no you won't!" Malik told him. "No stupid crap from animals today."

Pharaoh looked disappointed if possible and just trotted away, not caring if the boy had came to take care of him.

"Hey! Come back here!" Malik ran after the horse, which was a mistake since it only made the horse move faster. Pharaoh clearly didn't feel like stopping as he just kept going, despite that he must have been tired too. Malik chased after him for a good while, but then he got tired of it and just sat down on the sand, sighing.

When the horse noticed that Malik was no longer after him, he stopped and carefully approached the boy from behind. Malik felt something nibble the back of his hair and turned to see Pharaoh playing with it. He was about to shoo the horse away but then realized that he had actually came to him on his own accord. That was to be considered as a small miracle so he just smiled at the horse and reached to give him a pat.

"You're not so bad after all, you just play tough." Pharaoh 'neigh'ed. "Let's go get you washed, ok?" The boy stood up and grabbed a piece of Pharaoh's hair in order to lead him to the water. The horse followed much to his amazement, but as they reached the small lake, the horse stopped and decided that Malik should get into the water first so he pushed the boy into the pond like lake and galloped off quickly.

"Why you little-!" Malik yelled after him and got out of the water. He considered chasing the horse around again but remembered how he had came to him and decided to just fake indifferent. When the horse realized that Malik was not going to chase after him, he carefully approached the boy from behind, as he had turned his back at him.

Malik felt a slight push on his shoulder and turned to Pharaoh. "You little attention seeker." This time around, he got the horse into the water and began to plash him with water. Soon enough, Pharaoh apparently decided that Malik would have to get wet too and playfully bounced so that the water plashed on to the boy. This started a full out water war between the two, where Pharaoh would be plashed by Malik, gallop away and come back for a new assault and to be assaulted in turn.

* * *

Bakura had began to wonder what took the boy so long. He just hoped Pharaoh hadn't killed him or anything though that was unlikely. The horse wasn't angry, it was just bratty. 

He reached the oasis and heard laughter and other happy sounds coming from it. Soon he saw the boy running around being chased by his horse, laughing like he was having the time of his life. Both were wet but were quickly being tried by the sun. Bakura watched the two play for a while longer before making his presence known, though Pharaoh had probably noticed him already but just chose to ignore him.

"Hey, brats! It's time for you to stop playing!"

The horse galloped to him, with Malik running in tow. Bakura just shook his head at their childish behavior and told the boy it was time to head back.

"Already? Aw man." He turned and hugged the horse. "Bye Pharaoh, I see you soon I hope..."

Pharaoh nodded his head several times and Malik let go to follow Bakura back to the cave.

* * *

"I could start to take care of Pharaoh, if it's ok with you?" Malik asked carefully. That wasn't really what he wanted to talk about but he had to start somewhere and he did have good time with the horse. Bakura didn't say anything for a while but then he nodded his head a bit. 

"Sure, I was going to make you do that anyway." He said, Malik didn't really know if he should be grateful or pissed. He just sat on the floor like he always did and hugged his legs, wondering how he should go with the thing he was about to ask. He really wanted to ask about the spirits from yesterday but wasn't sure how Bakura would take it. Malik glanced at the other and saw that he had been watching him.

"What is it?" The thief asked, narrowing his eyes a bit. Malik bit his lip and looked down before asking his question.

"Yesterday... What were those?" He looked up carefully. Bakura had turned his gaze away.

"They were the spirits of Kul Elna." He told quietly, it held a bit finality, like 'Don't ask anymore'. Malik had no idea what he was talking about but decided to leave it be, for now at least. He leaned his head on his knees and sighed, feeling bored now that he had to stay in doors. There wasn't much what one could do here, especially when Bakura didn't like him touching his stuff, he would have liked to look through them again.

Malik just let his mind drift far away, back to his home and to the days when he used to play out in the sun all day with the other children. The time he had spent with Pharaoh had reminded him of those times again, it was almost like playing with an actual human child.

Bakura noticed that Malik was far in his own world, just sitting like that must have been boring to a kid like him. No worries though, he would soon have some excitement in his life. The thief decided to ease his boredom a bit.

"What are you thinking kid?"

"Home... I miss everyone so much..." Malik looked up at him. "Are you going to keep me here forever?"

Bakura shrugged. "For now the answer is yes. You can't expect me to just bring you home, you know the location of my hide out."

"No I don't! It was dark! There's no way I could have seen where we went!"

"That's not the point! People who are abducted normally don't get back home anyway so you can just forget your old life!" Bakura yelled back and the boy curled up and buried his face on his knees.

The boy started to sob silently and Bakura sighed. "Great... Just get to sleep or something, maybe then you won't be so god damn depressed." Malik curled up but just continued to sob miserably. Bakura decided to just let the boy cry and closed his eyes for a bit.

* * *

_The screams echoed in the streets. His mother had told him to run away and not look back, and he had but not too far away, or far away enough to not see all his villagers, along with his own family, die in the hands of the solders. _

* * *

Bakura's eyes snapped open and he sat up quickly, breathing heavily. 

"What's wrong?" Came the quiet voice of Malik from his side. He looked at the kid and saw that he was standing beside him and looking just a bit worried. How could he be worried about someone who had kidnapped him and just now yelled at him, making him cry?

"Nothing... Just a nightmare, go back to sleep." Bakura just told. Malik looked at him worriedly one more time before heading back to his place and curling up in the covers.

There was a way for him to make the nightmares stop, at least for a while, as well as making the spirits leave him alone from time to time.

Bakura glanced at Malik. The boy seemed to be asleep already, his ability to fall asleep was truly amazing, along with his ability to eat almost as much as his horse did. Despite the slight morbid-y of the situation, Bakura snorted a bit at his thoughts.

* * *

**A/N:** A good as any place to leave it for now. During the writing of this chapter I just listened Body Crumbles by Dry Cell over and over again, I love that song, don't know if it affected the chap in any way though... School has started again, not as much time to write so updates will probably be slower... 

**Please review!!!**


	5. Chapter 5 Moving

**A/N:** Um yeah... I should probably try to get things rolling now... I know it's been long since I last updated but I had a small writer's block and wasn't really motivated to write any of this. A good thing about the block was that it forced me to think stuff through and now I have things figured out better.

* * *

Malik was bored. He could tell by the way the kid rocked back and forth on his seat on the floor and looked around as if he was nervous, being on the brink of some kind of hyperactivity. He looked like he would just bounce up and do something completely random at any second now. 

Bakura would have snapped at him, finding this behavior to be annoying, but there was something he had realized when he was thinking through what the old man had said; the boy would have to volunteer to help him, he couldn't be forced. Maybe he could be bribed to help? Going home was a no-no and out of the question. What else could he want?

Of course, it never even crossed his mind that he could just explain the situation to the boy, who would understand and want to help, not only for his own sake but for Bakura's. Things didn't just work that way in his world.

"I'm bored..." Malik whined. "Isn't there anything to do around here?"

"Not really, there will be when we're moving though."

"We are? When?" The boy asked, almost sounding excited that something was about to happen.

"Well, I don't know exactly but we can't stay here forever, they'll find us."

"Who?"

"The men of the pharaoh of course."

"Oh... What would happen if they did?" Malik asked.

"What do you think? They'd either kill us or catch us and then execute us."

Malik looked at him wide eyed. "Everyone would die? What are dungeons for then? I though that's where all the criminals went."

Bakura snorted. "Only the petty ones are locked up, we would all just get killed."

"Oh..." The boy stayed silent, thinking it through before asking another question. "What about the slaves then? Aren't they people who have done something wrong?"

"They are just slaves." The other shrugged. "People taken from other countries or children of other slaves, some might have done something but no one really cares. You shouldn't either, just be glad you happened to be born free."

"So if I wasn't, I would have to slave all my life? I couldn't get free?"

What was it with all the questions? "Slave is born a slave, just like the pharaoh is born to be the pharaoh. It doesn't matter what kind of person you are or what you can do, it just matters who your parents are and what you were born to be."

Malik frowned. "Were you born to be a thief then?"

"Were you born to be an annoying brat?" Bakura bit back.

"I just want to know... No one has ever actually told me these things..." Malik said quietly, looking down.

"Welcome to the reality then, enjoy your stay."

Malik strangely at Bakura who seemed to be very sarcastic and cynical about everything. "Why are you so negative? Like the world is this terrible place..."

"Because that's how it is kid." Bakura just stated.

"What happened to make you this bitter?" Malik asked, tilting his head to a side.

"That's none of your busyness." The other told, crossing his arms.

The boy looked down. "Sorry, I just thought... Never mind." Malik glared slightly at the floor.

"Uh-hu, and next you're going to tell me that you actually care."

"What if I do? It would just be easier if we knew each other a bit better, since I'm going to be staying for a while..."

"That doesn't mean I have to tell you my life story."

"You never tell me anything... You could at least be a bit nicer." Malik mumbled and Bakura 'hmph'ed.

"That would totally cramp my style." His voice was however a bit softer now and almost sounded like he was kidding. Malik looked up and saw his smirk, it made him smile a bit.

Bakura was surprised by the small but sincere smile. The boy never smiled at him; he frowned, glared, whined that he was hungry but never did he smile. It made him feel a bit funny and his smirk softened just a bit.

* * *

They had been mostly just sitting around the whole day but now there seemed to be some kind of commotion in the other room so Bakura got up and went to check out what was happening, leaving Malik alone. 

The boy wondered what was it about but remained on his spot. Soon the other came back and started to back all his stuff up. Malik was about to ask what was going on but Bakura beat him to it.

"Help me pack, we're leaving. Now."

Malik did as he was told and packed but then he was told to quickly get Pharaoh and bring him to the front of the cave. The boy ran to the oasis where the horse was. He galloped to him and whined in greeting.

"Hello boy, we're in a hurry, come on." Malik said and started running back to the cave, the horse in tow. Bakura was already at the front of the cave waiting for them. He loaded one sack on the back of the horse and lifted Malik on the back as well.

"The rest is coming right behind us." Said the thief, mounting the horse and signaling him to move.

"Where are we going?" Malik asked. "_Why _are we going?"

"Ask questions later." Was the only answer he got.

* * *

After a while of ridding, they arrived to a deserted looking building and stopped, dismounting the horse. The rest of the men who were also living in the cave came with all the stuff and began to carry it in the building. 

"What is this place?" Malik asked.

"Hide out number two, used to be a part of that village over there."

The boy looked at the direction the other had gestured and saw that they were in fact lower than what the were and in the canyon rested a deserted looking village. A cold shiver ran up Malik's spine and he quickly turned his eyes away. Pharaoh was restless and as soon as they had unloaded him, he galloped out of sight. Malik glanced after the horse worriedly but was soon distracted by the insides of the building. It was very un-homey looking with spider webs and dust everywhere, he thought he saw blood on the walls too.

"Are we really going to live here?" He asked, hoping that it wasn't the case.

"Yeah... Needs a bit work though." Bakura said looking around and then throwing the sack he was carrying in one room in the back. He told Malik to stay there and went back out.

Malik wouldn't have wanted to be left alone but he searched his blanket and wrapped it around him, sitting on the dirty floor. This was not how he pictured his life to be like...

Bakura came back soon with more stuff and a few guys carrying the rest, leaving everything on the floor. He glanced at Malik who was hiding inside the blanket.

"You look scared kiddo."

"I don't like this place, the village gives me the creeps too..."

"I don't like this place either but we'll get used to it."

"I don't think I can sleep here..." Malik mumbled.

"Which do you prefer; getting caught by guards, sleeping outside or just forgetting your fear, being a man and sleeping here where it's warm and comfortable?"

"It's not comfortable in here..."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Stop whining already, it's getting on my nerves. At least we have a roof on top of our heads."

"The roof is bloody..." Malik said, looking up.

"Oh for the love of-" The thief stomped out of the room, muttering angrily under his breath, something about whining brats.

* * *

Night fell and Malik felt terribly tired but couldn't sleep because the place still crept him out. He tried to get comfortable but it was all in vain. Bakura had gathered all blankets and pillows he could find, piled them up and fallen asleep on the pile, he had even given Malik a pillow, telling him to stop whining and go to sleep, but he couldn't. 

The boy was still awake and he guessed it was past midnight already. Isis had always told him to got to sleep early and he had but his sister wasn't here right now and he couldn't sleep. He was going to be so tired tomorrow.

Bakura mumbled something in his sleep and Malik thought of something. He crawled carefully next to the sleeping figure and curled up close him, or as he close as he dared to go.

The presence of the other was calming effect and he managed to get some sleep. He buried his face into the pillow, wiggled a bit closer to the sleeping man and fell a sleep with a sigh.

* * *

Bakura woke up the next morning at sunrise. He knew the sun was rising because it shone right at his eyes through the small window. He covered his eyes with his hand when he felt something pressed against him. It was warm and possibly breathing slowly. 

He looked at his side and saw the boy sleeping there contently, curled up against his side. Bakura looked at the sleeping face and contemplated whether or not he should wake the boy, he looked so peaceful... He didn't need to decide when the boy woke up few seconds later, yawning widely and stretching his body.

Malik blinked and looked up at him. Bakura looked right back and neither said anything. Then Malik blushed and backed off a bit, taking his blanket and pillow with him.

"I was just...um... I couldn't fall asleep so I thought... yeah."

"That's ok, you could have asked me first though. Let's go find Pharaoh."

Malik looked surprised that he wasn't angry or anything resembling it. He got up quickly as he noticed that the other was almost out already and ran after him,slowing to walk beside him.

Everything looked much better in the sunlight, even the building didn't look so bad, though he suspected that the others had done something to it. The heard a whinny of the horse as he trotted lazily towards them. He seemed to be ok but was still not going very near the building.

"Hi boy." Malik petted the horse and smiled at him. Bakura looked through all his legs and hooves, there was nothing physically wrong with the animal but he was on edge.

"I don't think he likes this place very much." The boy said, still petting the animal affectionately.

"No one does..."

* * *

**A/N:** This is so not fabulous... I don't like this chapter, sure it had some emotional development but it lacks something... The next chapter will be more interesting, don't worry :) So what did you think? 

**Please review!!**


	6. Chapter 6 Something

**A/N: **This chapter is supposed to be some kind of turning point but as I was writing it and read it through after, I realized that it's pretty lame... Though the stuff that happens isn't that important in it's self, the consequences are but still...

* * *

"I wonder what it is about this place..." Malik wondered aloud while he was grooming Pharaoh. The horse turned his ear towards the boy to indicate that he was listening though he didn't understand why was the boy so absent minded. Pharaoh kept a good distance to the village and to the building they were staying in, making anyone who wanted to check on him or take care of him walk a long distance. Malik didn't mind though, he liked it better here where he couldn't see the village nor the building and had been spending more time with the animal than with the people, or the person because he rarely associated with anyone else but Bakura. 

"Do you think it would be ok to go on a small guest?" The boy asked from the horse who couldn't understand what he was saying but he had taken the habit to talk to him whenever he had something on his mind.

The horse neighed, shaking his head and swapping Malik with his tail. "Hey!" The boy yelled. "So you don't think it's a good idea then?" Pharaoh moved restlessly and whined.

"What's not a good idea?"

Malik turned around quickly to see Bakura who patted his horse and looked at him suspiciously. Malik was quick to look like it had been nothing at all.

"Nothing." He placed his hands behind his back and gave the innocent and definitely not going to do anything behind your back -look. Bakura's eyes narrowed but he didn't push on it, directing his attention towards the horse.

"I just thought you should come back, you've been here the whole day." The thief said while his eyes were still on Pharaoh. Malik blinked and tilted his head a bit.

"You weren't worried about me, now were you?"

"Hmph, of course not. Let's go." Bakura started walking away, expecting the boy to follow. He did after saying bye to the horse, running after the other.

* * *

Late that evening Malik was lying on the floor, head on his pillow, which he was grateful to have. He tried to find interesting shapes on the blood on the ceiling, a bit like the way one does when cloud watching. He had found a crocodile, a tree, a horse, he had decided that it was Pharaoh, and a face that looked to be in pain. He held his finger up in the air, tracing the lines of the shapes on the air, mumbling to himself. 

Without the boy noticing, Bakura was looking rather amused by the self entertaining he was doing. The thief followed the finger in the air with his eyes and listened the quiet mumbled about crocodiles and what-not.

"Ah, it's a palm tree!" Malik suddenly exclaimed when he realized what one shape looked like. A chuckle escaped from Bakura at the boy's actions. Malik turned his head to see that he had been watched the whole time and looked a bit embarrassed, having forgotten that he wasn't alone.

"Um... there's a palm tree on the ceiling." He explained quietly, not looking at the other, who laughed silently.

"At least you have imagination."

"I guess so." Malik said, smiling a bit. "I used to do that all the time with the other kids, except we did it with clouds." He then frowned. "Haven't you ever been cloud watching?"

Bakura shook his head. "Never, I had other things to do as a kid."

"Oh... Like what?" The boy asked, sounding curios and flipping on his stomach so that he was facing the other, leaning his head on his hands.

"Surviving mostly."

"So you didn't play much?" Malik frowned a bit again.

"Not after my parents were killed." Bakura looked away.

"Didn't you have siblings to take care of you?"

"No, no one."

Now Malik felt very sorry for him, for not having anyone at all. Malik at least had had his older siblings there for him. He crawled carefully to the thief and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, looking at him with sympathy. Bakura glanced at the boy from the corner of his eye.

"Don't bother to feel sorry kid." He said after he turned away again. Malik sighed at the stubborn sense of pride but removed his hand, seating himself next to the other.

"You know, we should really go cloud watching some time. I can teach you how, it would be fun!" He suggested excitedly. "Then we could play hide and seek or something."

"I don't have time for that."

"But you have time to lay around the whole day and do nothing?"

"Yes, I'm too busy laying around doing nothing, I have no time for games."

Malik couldn't help but laugh at that. When the laugh escaped him, he clapped his hand over his mouth, hiding behind it as Bakura turned to look at him with question.

"What's so funny?"

"You." The boy smiled brightly, eyes sparkling in the dim light. Bakura stared at him, looking surprised and confused before quickly turning his head away.

"I'm not that funny..." He muttered.

"Whatever." Malik said but sounded suspiciously like he was still snickering.

"Ok, little brats' bedtime." Bakura informed and the boy did go to get his pillow and blanket but putting them down next to the thief's.

"I'm sleeping here." Malik told as a questioning glance was thrown his way. "I can't sleep over there anyways." With that said he wrapped the blanket around him and buried his face on the pillow. Bakura blinked at him but said nothing as he too laid down to get some sleep.

* * *

Malik felt just a bit bad when he sneaked out of the building that night. It was a couple of hours till sunrise and he would make sure to be back before it, just a quick look around, that would be all it took to satisfy his curiosity. 

As he came closer to the village, he was kind of starting to regret his decision to go explore it. It still had this creepy feeling to it and the fact that it was dark didn't help at all. The boy had took a small torch with him and made his way through the dead streets in it's faint light.

He passed many empty houses, peeking in a few of them but not daring to enter. A few skeletons lied around and Malik made sure not to go near them. The whole place had the feeling of death and he was getting ready to get the hell out of there when he saw a building that stood out from all the rest. It was much bigger for starters and it looked like it had been a beautiful building once but now it was wrecked and one wall was threatening to crumble down.

After a short while of considering, Malik decided to check it out before leaving, carefully walking closer to the building. Once he got there he peeked in from the large doorway. It seemed to have some kind of altar in the far back, with broken statues standing on it and around it. Curiosity won fear and the boy stepped in to take a closer look.

Now that he was closer, he saw that most of the statues either lacked the face or the head but they were still recognizable. They were, or had once been, the main gods of Egypt. Malik gasped and took a step back.

This was sacrilege.

Despite his young age he had enough sense to realize that he shouldn't be here, he shouldn't have come. Damn curiosity. Just as he was about to turn and run, he felt a hand come down on his shoulder. He gasped and attempted to get away but was held firmly in place.

"You shouldn't be here, Malik." The voice was cold and harsh but recognizable.

"I'm sorry, I was just-" A screech like sound was heard in the distance and the smell of blood and death flooded the large room. A white formless spirit flew past them as the air seemed to turn colder. Malik's eyes widened as he recognized the spirit from before. "We are-?"

"In Kul Elna." Bakura finished for him, eyes directed forward, towards the altar. He grabbed the back of Malik's neck and started to walk the boy towards it. The spirits were gathering around, flowing in the air and some times brushing past them.

"W-what's going on?" Malik asked fearfully. Once they reached the altar, Bakura knelt so that he was on the same level with the boy.

"I gathered some information... Wouldn't it be nice to just have them-" A gesture towards the spirits. "-leave us alone? At least for a long time if not permanently?"

"It would but..."

"But what? You know they are coming back sooner or later, most likely sooner, there is no but."

"Yes but how?" Malik eyed the spirits as they seemed restless.

"With a little something as sacrifice." Bakura pulled out a small knife and the boy stared at it wide eyed.

"W-what kind of sacrifice are we talking about?" He asked hesitantly, not sure if he would like the answer. As the answer to the question, the thief took a hold of his wrist, turning it so that the palm was up. With a quick movement Bakura cut the wrist open and the blood flowed out, dripping on the altar. Malik tried to yank away but his arm was held by the much stronger grip so he just closed his eyes, not wanting to see his own blood.

In a surprisingly short time, the boy started to feel weak and had trouble standing. Bakura let the wound drip a few more seconds before lifting it up to lick it, then wrapping it up with a piece of cloth. He caught the swaying boy in his arms, getting up. Malik cracked one eye open, noticing the spirits were now gone and felt relieved even though his wrist hurt and his vision was a bit blurry. Bakura carried him out of the village back to the building, laying him down on the blanket, being careful to place him comfortably. When the child was comfortable, he went to get him something to drink and eat.

"Here, drink." He had came back with a cup of water, placing it on Malik's lips, raising his head from the pillow. The boy did as he was told. "You've lost a lot of blood, just make sure you drink a lot and eat some." Then he left again to get something he needed.

Malik drank the rest of the water and started on the apple he had been brought. Bakura came back again, carrying a bottle of something and kneeling next to Malik, opening it and using it to wet a piece of cloth. He removed the make shift bandage on the wrist and saw that some of the blood had dried on the edges but some was still coming from the wound.

"What's that?" The boy asked.

"Alcohol. This will sting."

Malik winced as the cloth connected with the wound, it was by no means pleasant. With a few wipes it was over and the old bandage was replaced.

"Good boy, get some rest, it's morning soon." He left the boy to his peace now, exiting swiftly, leaving Malik a bit confused.

* * *

The sun was rising from the horizon as the thief was sitting on the sandy ground, watching Pharaoh in the distance. He had no idea why he even bothered to care about the boy. Malik was an annoying brat and nothing but a burden ever since he had been kidnapped. Still... There was something about him that managed to stir something inside the thief. What exactly that "something" was, he didn't have a clue. 

That must have been the reason why he hadn't killed the boy. Bakura had taken lives before and it had never been much of an issue. And besides, if he had really sacrificed the boy, and not just his blood, there had had been a good possibility that he could have been left alone by the spirits, maybe even for good. Why was the boy's life suddenly more important than his own peace of mind?

* * *

**A/N:** Let's just except the fact that this fics chapters are shorter than my average ones and get it over with. 

**Please review!!**


	7. Chapter 7 A bit closer

**A/N:** This probably took long to update... I know where I'm going with this, I just don't know how to get there -.-''

* * *

Malik was feeling a bit confused about the fact that Bakura had actually been nice to him after the incident in the village, taking care of the wound and all. That just seemed so unlike him. The boy hadn't questioned him about it though, feeling that if he did the other would just go bastard on him again. The wound was healing nicely thanks to the care it was getting and was no longer so sore it had been nor bled so easily. 

Now he was helping cleaning the building to make it more livable. The boy was sweeping the floor deep in thought, being careful how he moved his other hand. The make sift broom got the dust to just fly around mostly but he tried to direct it towards the door.

Bakura had previously disappeared somewhere, not giving any sort of explanation of where he went, not that he usually did. It would have been nice to have him help out too, that Malik didn't like to be alone. Well, he wasn't technically alone since there were all the other people that lived there but they kept their respective distance. The boy knew this was because he was Bakura's property and no one wanted to get on his bad side. He huffed angrily at the thought, having long ago decided that he didn't like being property. Without noticing it, he had started sweeping harder and the dust flew around and the others were coughing and yelling him to quit it. Malik didn't bother with their complains, there was nothing they could do anyway if they didn't want the thief on their case. Taking his sudden anger out on the floor was relaxing really and he wasn't about to stop any time soon.

A hand came down on his shoulder, making him let out a yell and whack the person with the broom. He had just been so deep in his own world that the contact had really scared him.

"...I didn't come back here just to get hit by a brat with a stick..."

"You scared me!" Malik held his chest and breathed heavily. Bakura held his arm up to block the offensive object, which had managed to drop it's sweeping part on the floor.

"You should be more aware of your surroundings."

Malik frowned at the broom. "You broke my broom..." He said accusingly.

"No, you broke it by hitting me with it. I just wanted to tell you that people are choking in here so stop raising all the sand from the floor."

"Yes your highness..." The boy muttered, throwing what was left of the broom on the floor and stomped to their room quickly. Bakura just stared after him, wondering what had that been about.

Malik soon realized that he should have stomped out of the door instead so that he could go see Pharaoh, that always helped if something weighted him down. He climbed out of the small window and ran towards the place he knew the horse would most likely be.

* * *

The way the boy had acted puzzled Bakura. He hadn't acted that way before... Maybe he was reaching his more rebellious age, though it might as well be something else seeing that the thief knew next to nothing about children, or people for that matter. 

It would probably be better to leave the kid be for now, he for one didn't want him to spit on his face, literally or otherwise. He would find out later and maybe he could learn what was so special about the boy that made him care if he acted up and not just put him back to his place.

He had to admit that he had been a bit surprised to be attacked with a broom but at least the boy had some spine, even though his self defending skills lacked greatly.

Bakura glanced at the doorway to their room briefly before going back at telling people what to do and how to do it. He would just talk to the kid once he had all the other things out of the way.

In the town earlier he had gotten some interesting opinions about his latest "acquired possessions", though that also included the valuables he had traded. He ignored them all, especially all the people who wanted to buy the boy for some purpose or other. Malik was much more valuable than anything anyone could offer anyway...

* * *

"Pharaoh!" The boy called for the horse who galloped to him. "Hey, where were you with Bakura?" The horse nodded his head and pushed Malik's shoulder slightly and he petted him with an affectionate smile. "It would be so boring without you boy. To who would I tell everything then huh?" 

The horse whined quietly as the boy sat on the ground, hugging his knees and Pharaoh played with his hair. Malik sighed and absently scratched the horse.

"Why do you think he's keeping me here? I mean, it's not like I'm terribly useful or anything... Of course there's the blood thing... I haven't told you about that, have I?"

The boy then proceeded to tell everything that had happened in the village. It felt good to get it off his chest and it was almost like the horse could understand, at least he listened carefully. He also talked about other stuff that had been going on, this was way better than talking with himself and the horse wouldn't, couldn't, tell anyone so it would just be between them.

"...it's not like I _hate_ him or anything like that, though I think I might have at first, a bit... I don't know anymore... He's not terrible to have around, at least I'm not alone. You think I'm being stupid right?" Malik didn't really expect an answer. "I don't think he even likes me... I might like him some, I mean I know he can be nice if he wants to. You agree with me, don't you? You know him better than I do."

The horse neighed and nodded his head high up in the air. Malik smiled at the animal. "I knew you would."

* * *

"Where the hell is he?!" Bakura yelled more at himself than to anyone else. The boy wasn't in the room and he hadn't seen him leave. Where could have he went? He wasn't stupid enough to go to the village again so that left him, what? A whole lot of empty desert... 

Then it came to him. The horse was the boy's best friend as far as he knew so there he was likely to be found, with the horse. The thief took off towards where he knew the horse would be, striding quickly through the desert. The boy should learn not to just leave like that, not that he had been worried or anything...

Reaching the place where he expected his horse to be at, he saw the boy sitting on the ground, chatting happily at the horse who appeared to be listening. Bakura shook his head a bit before he approached them. Pharaoh noticed, or paid attention to him first and trotted lazily to him. The thief petted the horse absently and went to the boy who was still sitting on the dirt.

"You do know that the horse doesn't understand you, right?"

"I know..." Malik looked at the ground, drawing small patterns on it.

"Hey, why did you took off like that, without telling me?" Bakura too sat on the ground near the boy who was still not looking at him.

"I wanted to get out." Malik just stated.

"Uh-hu... So what was that about earlier then? Are you mad at me or something?"

"No, I just felt angry..."

"It seems to me that wasn't all there was to it. I might not be a people specialist or anything but I don't think someone just gets angry for the heck of it."

Malik sighed. "I don't like being property..."

Bakura's eyes narrowed a bit. "Well, tough break. Are you saying that I'm _not_ treating you like a person? That's what that sounds like to me and one could take that as an insult after been taking care of you."

"That's not what I'm saying!" The boy yelled and stood up. "It's just the knowledge that I am and that's what everyone takes me as that's bugging me..."

Bakura stayed silent for a while, just looking at the other. This was unexpected... "I must say that that's just too bad. I can't let you own yourself because that would mean you could choose to leave."

"What makes you think I would? It's not like I can get anywhere on my own anyway, I don't even know where we are."

"Hmph, of course you would. At least if you had the chance, you don't have a reason to stay since you don't like it here and you don't like me."

Malik sat back down next to Bakura. "I never said I didn't like you. And what makes you think I wouldn't escape if I had the chance anyway? If I'm just property here, I truly have no reason to stay..."

"I don't treat you like I own you so stop whining about it already." He didn't have the patience for this now. "How's your hand?"

Malik looked at him surprised. "It's fine... You know, I've been thinking a bit and... you must have known about the whole sacrifice thing for some time... You could have just told me, I... I would have helped you..." The boy looked away again and Bakura was left staring at him.

"Why?"

"Because..."

"That's not even a real reason." People just didn't do stuff like that to each other without wanting something in return.

"I just would have, ok?!" Malik snapped but at least he was looking at the other now. "...It was nice of you to take care of me though..."

"...No problem..."

"You could just keep that up, no need to be all bastard, I know you're a tough guy anyway." A tiny-est hint of teasing was heard in the boys voice as he spoke and Bakura ruffled his hair with a small grin.

"You'd better kiddo." He was a bit taken back again as the boy beamed at him, he was sure he would never get used to the pretty smile... "We... should head back, it's getting dark soon." He quickly got up and offered a hand to help the boy up. Malik took it but after he got up, didn't let go like expected and just proceeded to walk towards the building while still holding the hand in his grip.

* * *

**A/N:** I can't believe I actually got that done... I was stuck on one place for so many days and then just suddenly I wrote the whole damn chapter with almost one sitting (had to eat and study). Those who want fluff and stuff, it's on it's way so no worries :) 

**Please review!!**


	8. Chapter 8 Honestly

**A/N:** "Your first words of love that you whispered in my ear, eyes that hide nothing. If I could hold you and know that I can keep you warm, I am not afraid of any punishment or sin." A part of the lyrics of Tsuki no Kaasu, I just feel so inspired to write this right now .

* * *

It was already late at night, possibly nearing midnight, but the thief was unable to sleep. The full moon was casting it's light through the window and there was just too much light to sleep. He was just staring at the bloody ceiling, vaguely wondering how could Malik see palm trees and what-not on it. 

Actually it seemed unlikely that the boy was asleep either, his breathing was just too irregular for a sleeping person. Bakura knew this because the boy's back was pressed against his side, he could feel the other's breathing. Malik was covered from head to toe with the blanket he had, only a few strands of blond hair peeking past the corner of the blanket. He apparently liked to sleep in a some kind of cocoon position, curled up and fully under covers.

It was not quite clear to Bakura when had he started taking notice of small things like the boy's sleeping habits, though that was probably near the time he had started sleeping closer to him. He knew how his nose would wrinkle a bit and he would frown when there was something he didn't like and how those eyes would lit up when he was enjoying himself, like when he was with Pharaoh. The boy seemed to be very attached to the horse, and the other way around too. The reason why Bakura knew all those things was because he had started paying closer attention to the boy for some reason, though he had deemed that it was just because they spent more time together these days since he hadn't had much else to do... And maybe the boy was a bit more than just a part of his possessions.

The... conversation they had had about Malik not wanting to be his property the other week had managed to convince him that the boy wasn't just a childish brat, or at least he had matured some during this time. Sure he still had his own childish antics but it was sort of... Cute wasn't the right word, it was that too but that wasn't the word to fully describe it. Interesting? Attractive? He didn't know.

"...Are you awake?" Came the quiet voice of Malik from his side.

"Yeah... Can't sleep."

"Hm."

They fell into silence. It would probably been a comfortable one if there didn't feel to be some many unsaid things and unasked questions between them.

"How long are we going to stay here?" The boy suddenly asked.

"I don't know." Bakura shrugged. "Not too long anyway."

"I think I liked the cave better..."

"Me too..."

The boy shifted on his side. "Um... Could you teach me how to ride?" He asked hesitantly and Bakura turned to look at him, seeing that he was facing him now, a waiting look in his eyes, moonlight making them sparkle a little.

"I'm not sure if Pharaoh would let you, and besides, how am I supposed to know that you won't just ride away then?"

Malik looked disappointed. "But-"

"I didn't say I wouldn't. Now go to sleep and stop looking at me like that." He interrupted, looking pointedly back at the ceiling. If he hadn't, he would have seen Malik smile brightly and would have seen the hug coming.

"Thanks." The boy whispered and let go to curl back up under his blanket.

Bakura blinked and glanced at the boy who was already fully covered. Now all his chances of getting any sleep were shot by the confusingly warm, funny feeling. What was that all about?

* * *

Much to Malik's disappointment, a few days passed with no riding lessons. Bakura always excused himself when he asked about it and told that he had too many things he needed done to have time. Sometimes he would just stay in the building and do something supposedly important, once he rode away for the day without a word. Malik had no idea where he went and why but that was probably none of his busyness anyway... 

Right now he was sitting in the shade of the building, drawing on the sand. He just needed to do something to keep himself entertained and there wasn't much to do around.

"What's that supposed to be?"

Malik turned to look at the direction of the familiar voice and saw Bakura leaning on the wall, arms crossed and eying the drawing.

"It's Pharaoh." The boy informed like it was obvious and went back to his drawing, moving a finger around on the sand. He could hear how the other approached and knelt next to him.

"It looks like a disfigured camel or something." The thief commented, getting a quick glare from the artist. "That's not what a horse looks like."

Malik pretended not to care and ignored the other's presence. It didn't matter what he said or thought, he was the one who avoided him, only to come back to mock him. Something moving in the corner of his eye caught his attention, Bakura wrote something on the sand.

_Disfigured camel by Malik _

The boy frowned. "You're a terrible jerk." He stated and wiped off the whole thing, drawing and all.

"Whatever, come on." The man got up and Malik finally looked at him.

"Where to?"

"To Pharaoh."

Malik couldn't help the smile that tugged his lips, having already forgotten the jerk-ness.

* * *

The horse had been surprisingly co-operative and now Malik was on his back, grabbing the hair to keep himself from falling. Bakura did own bridle but rarely used them himself so he had figured that the boy didn't need to either. The horse was moving slowly, as if trying to prevent the boy from falling and the thief was walking next to him. 

"Just relax and sit up straight." Bakura told and placed a hand on the lower back of the boy to get him to sit straight and give him some support. Malik did so, the thief clicked his tongue and Pharaoh sped up to a slow trot.

The boy jumped with the movements and grabbed the hair tighter to prevent his fall. It felt like he would just slide off anytime now. He tried to concentrate on the instructions Bakura was giving, about how to tell the horse where to go and in what speed, and most importantly, how to stop. That was one of the first things Malik decided to try.

"Had enough already?"

"No, I just wanted to see if I could do that." No way he was giving up now. It was a good thing that Pharaoh seemed to be listening him so well, otherwise it would probably be much more difficult.

"Good, time to try something else. Pharaoh." Bakura clicked his tongue again, this time a bit louder. The horse did as told and began galloping.

"Ah!" Malik let out a startled sound and clang to the horse's neck to keep from falling.

"Sit up and lean back a bit!" The thief called to him and he tried his best to do what he was told though he didn't wish to fall, Pharaoh was a big horse and it would be a long way down.

To his surprise it was actually much easier to keep himself balanced once he sat up properly. The movements were soft and easy to sit in, much easier than trot had been. Malik found himself enjoying the ride a lot and a smile lit his features as he galloped around Bakura in a large circle. A laugh escaped him as Pharaoh sped up a bit on his own accord but he didn't really mind.

After a while Bakura told them to slow down and stop, it was enough for the day already. Pharaoh slowed down and went to his master while the boy was grinning like there was no tomorrow.

"We have to do that again sometime!" He said, excitement evident in his voice. Bakura glanced at him with a small smile and nodded.

"There's a lot for you to learn still, down you come." He held his arms up for Malik who placed his hands on his shoulders and slid down with the thief's help. He wrapped his arms around the thief's neck to give a grateful hug while he still could before he was placed down.

* * *

It was already evening and the darkness was beginning to fall, and Malik had just finished his babbling about the little riding session. Bakura was just grateful of that. 

The boy was leaning his arms on his pillow, head on his arms and waving his legs in the air, humming a random tune. He seemed to be all smile and good mood, which was kind of nice in the thief's opinion. Well, of course it was better than having him be all moody and brat-like.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're not really that bad person?"

That was kind of sudden... Bakura just looked at the boy from the corner of his eye. "No, why would they?"

"Because it's true." Malik said, eyes shining with all his child-like honesty.

"If I remember right, you were the one who last told what 'a terrible jerk' I am." The thief pointed out.

"Well, I didn't really mean it and you were making fun of my drawing."

Bakura 'hmph'ed but the corner of his lips went up a bit. "I guess you're not that bad yourself kiddo."

Malik smiled, noticing the hint of a smile on the other's face. "Thanks."

* * *

**A/N:** Aw! This is seriously getting cute xD I hope not too cute though, but that was kind of necessary... 

**Please review!!**


	9. Chapter 9 The town and the gift

**A/N:** I'm not sure how many chapters there is before the end but not too many, just thought you should know.

* * *

Once it was established that they didn't think the other was a terrible pain in their hive and both actually considered the other as a human being, they began to notice the signs of some sort of friendship that had been ignored until now. 'Now' would be about a week after the first riding lesson. 

This whole new friendship concept wasn't so new to Malik who had had friends before in his life, many friends actually, but it was different with Bakura. The thief just simply didn't do friendship and it annoyed and frustrated Malik that he refused to open up. Malik had been willing to share his life's story, he even told about the dress-up game, which he considered to be embarrassing.

In the end the boy had just given up about that and decided to wait and see if things would change. There was a slim chance of that happening but there wasn't anything he could do about it anyway. Trust wasn't something you just got, it had to be earned.

"You're coming with me today kid."

Malik looked up at the thief in surprise. He had just planned on laying around all day and not do anything, actually. "Where are we going?"

"To town, come on."

Malik got up with lightning speed, excitement evident on his face. He had done nothing but been in the building or in the desert near it for all this time, and before that he had just been in the cave, this was a nice chance to get out and have a change of scenery. He ran to catch up with Bakura and hurried to keep up with him.

"Why are we going? Are we taking Pharaoh? What are we going to do there? Why are you taking me with you now? Oh hey, can I ride alone?"

"Kid." Bakura said to stop the flood of questions. "I need something from the town. Yes, we're taking Pharaoh. We are going to buy some stuff. I thought I just would. No, absolutely not." He answered to all the questions in order with patience he didn't even know he possessed.

"Ok!" The boy chirped happily. "Pharaoh!" He called once he spotted the horse. The animal came to them, ears forward in curiosity. "Hey boy." He petted the horse and then let out a surprised sound when he was lifted on his back.

"We have to hurry if we want to get there before midday." Bakura helped himself up, behind Malik.

The trip to the nearest town began. Pharaoh was clearly happy to be moving and sped up from time to time, almost throwing Malik off balance though his ability to stay in balance had gotten better. Luckily for him, he had Bakura to keep him there by wrapping an arm around the boy's waist. A small smile crept to Malik's face and he felt a bit flushed for some reason. He deemed it to be because he was happy that the other cared enough to keep him there, instead of just letting him fall off but an aching feeling told that that wasn't all there was to it.

They arrived to the town and left Pharaoh outside it. Malik looked around, trying to see everything at once. All the people that flocked in the market place, the buildings and all the stuff that was trying to get sold. He had never seen anything outside the place he had lived in so this was all new and exciting to him. The thief looked at him in amusement as he pointed at everything and everyone.

"Stop drawing so much attention to us." Bakura told, shaking his head with a small smile.

Malik smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, it's just- Hey look!" He was set to run towards something he had seen but was stopped by a hand grabbing his shoulder. He came to sudden stop and looked up at Bakura in question.

"Better to stick with me."

The boy nodded and settled to walk by the other, silently this time but still looking around.

"What did you see?" Bakura asked suddenly, referring to what Malik had wanted to go see earlier.

"Nothing important..." The boy said off handedly while still turning his head to see everything.

"Come on, show me."

Malik looked up at him but then took his hand and lead him to a table with small wooden animals on it, pointing carefully at a horse shaped one that was made out of dark wood. To him it was really pretty and reminded him of his horse friend.

"I can get it for you, you know, if you want."

The boy once again looked at Bakura in surprise. "You don't have to..." He said quietly but was silently glad that the other had offered to.

"I know that." The man stated and then turned to the salesman to have a strange discussion about the prise. Malik had seen his brother do that too once or twice. Then he was handled the wooden horse and he took it, holding it gratefully to his chest like it was his most prised possession. Well, it would be from now on.

"Thank you..." Malik smiled brightly up at the thief who had this slightly taken back reaction again. The boy had noticed that it happened whenever he smiled like that to him, he would look all bothered and then look away.

"No problem, let's go." Bakura started to walk away and Malik quickly took off after him.

* * *

A few hours until it would be dark they left the town. Bakura had noticed that the boy didn't know much about anything and he had took it up to himself to teach the kid. Apparently his siblings had been very protective of him all his life and sealed him away from "the evil world". Things like how to haggle was taught and the boy caught on quickly, actually being quite good at it with the cuteness thing he pulled with the salesmen. He had bought a variety of things and met up with this one guy who had some information about the trading caravans. He could have just stolen all this stuff but what was the point of having a lot of money if you never spent it on anything? 

It surprised him how happy the simple gift had made the boy; he had treated it like it was made of pure gold instead of wood. Though it was somehow nice to be able to do that, to coax the smile out of the boy...

Right now the tired boy was dozing off against his chest as Pharaoh galloped across the darkening desert. He had to make sure that Malik wouldn't fall off the horse and had his arm holding him close, secretly enjoying the smaller body relaxing against him. It just felt so nice somehow... And the boy clearly trusted him to keep him from falling.

They arrived to their latest hiding place when it was already dark and Bakura had to carry the already sleeping boy to the building. Not that he minded terribly.

He laid the sleeping boy down and wrapped the blanket around him carefully. A content sigh escaped from the now slightly parted lips as Malik slept soundly. Then the thief did something he would later had to ponder why he did that in the first place. He planted a kiss on the small parted lips, pulling away almost immediately. The boy let out a small sound and smiled a bit in his sleep.

* * *

The sun rays shone straight in his eyes and pulled him out of his peaceful slumber. Malik opened his eyes only to shade them with his arm. He lifted his head a bit from his pillow to look around. Where was Bakura? The thief was nowhere in sight. 

The boy got up quickly and grabbed something to eat before heading out to look for the other. Now where could he be? People around him looked busy but he decided that it was best to ask from someone.

"Hey, where's Bakura?" He asked from one man passing him. The man directed an unfriendly gaze at him before answering.

"He went out early."

"_Where_ did he go?" He sounded a bit rude and ordering there but that must be something he got from the thief. The man's eye twitched in annoyance.

"Check from where his horse is." Now the man pushed past him and went back to whatever he had been doing before.

"Ok, thanks."

On his way to Pharaoh, Malik remembered the dream he had had. He blushed a bit at the thought; in the dream Bakura had kissed him... It had felt kind of nice... He wondered though, how could he know what kissing felt like when he had never been kissed? He thought it was just because of his imagination but was there a reason he had imagined, and dreamed, that? Sure he liked the other but wasn't things like that meant to be between men and women? That's what Isis had told him at least when he had asked about it after seeing his older friend kiss this girl he was supposed to marry. Isis was rarely wrong because she knew a lot of stuff but could it be that she didn't know everything about stuff like that?

As Malik pondered that his thoughts went to his family again. It had been so long since he had last seen them and he doubted that he would have the chance ever again... Strangely he didn't feel quite as sad about it than he had been, he was quite happy here actually, with Bakura and his new best friend, Pharaoh. Though it would be nice to get to see his sister and brother again sometime...

"What are you thinking?" Came the familiar voice that snapped him out of his thoughts. Malik looked to see Bakura who was grooming Pharaoh, seemingly concentrating on the horse.

"Just... stuff." The horse lowered his head so the the boy could reach to pet it. "My family and... stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Yeah... Why didn't you stay and sleep with me last night?"

Bakura started coughing without any apparent reason and Malik looked at him worriedly. The thief managed to calm his coughing after a while.

"What?" He asked in a bit high pitched voice.

The boy gave him a weird look, not understanding this strange behavior. "Yeah, you weren't there when I woke up. Did you sleep at all?"

"Oh. I couldn't sleep so I... No I didn't sleep." The thief went back to tending Pharaoh.

"You really should sleep more." Malik said with a worried frown. Maybe the other was sick and that's the reason he was acting weirdly.

"I know that, mother." The other told and the boy rolled his eyes.

"Anyways, I had fun yesterday, thanks for taking me with you." He smiled a bit, changing the subject and also picked a brush, starting to groom. The horse lowered his head and closed his eyes, enjoying all the attention he was getting.

"Hm." Was the sound that meant that Bakura had acknowledged his thanks. "Didn't your family ever take you anywhere?"

"Only if they had to go somewhere and didn't want to leave me alone." Now that he thought of it and how he had been treated here, that seemed like over-protectiveness to him. It wasn't like he couldn't take care of himself at all... "I never left the town before you... you know."

The other nodded. "Too sheltered if you ask me, no wonder you're so naïve."

* * *

After they were done with Pharaoh it was time to head back. Malik had taken to holding the other's hand as they walked, he had done that in the town yesterday too and Bakura didn't mind terribly. The innocent show of affection was nice though not quite enough. He really didn't know what had gotten into him last night when he had kissed the boy but he couldn't help but wonder if the boy had minded if he had been awake... It had sparkled something inside of him that he hadn't been aware of until now. But now as he watched the young boy beside him, walking and chatting about something pointless, he wondered if it was sinful... Not that he had ever cared about that before but... 

"Are you even listening?" The boy's voice broke through his musings.

"Not really."

Malik shook his head a bit but didn't say anything, just continuing to walk quietly this time since he knew the other wasn't listening to him anyway. He was keeping a close eye on him though, he always did these days...

* * *

**A/N:** Ah emotions :) Bakura's mind is a bit dirty though xD 

**Please review!!**


	10. Chapter 10 Teacher

**A/N:** Maybe things will start to get interesting from now on... hmmm...

* * *

Another week had passed without much fuss. The building was cleaner now since they had spent some time cleaning it all through the week and it was starting to resemble a place where humans could live in. Most of the blood never came off but it didn't bother Malik so much anymore, now that he had gotten used to it and didn't pay attention to it. What he did pay attention to, however, was the change in his sleeping habits. Some time during last week, after the dream he had about Bakura, he would find himself using the other as a pillow or just otherwise huddled were close to him. In the morning he would always realize this, blush and apologize. To this the other would grunt or 'hm' and leave off to somewhere, to do whatever he needed to be doing. 

Malik wondered if the thief was angry about it or just indifferent, like it didn't matter to him how their sleeping arrangements were. To Malik it did matter; he slept better these days and hoped that it didn't piss the other off terribly. Though somehow he doubted that it did... Sometimes, when he was cleaning or doing whatever, he could spot or feel Bakura watching him, wearing a slight frown or otherwise thoughtful expression. It made him a bit nervous and puzzled but he had yet to ask Bakura about it. He had decided that he would, maybe today, in the evening when they were going to sleep. All he needed to do now was to figure out how to go with it...

* * *

Of course Bakura had noticed the second he first laid eyes on the boy that he was beautiful, that was one of the reasons he had taken him with him back then. But Malik wasn't just a pretty thing among all the pretty things he owned, he was something more. It wasn't quite clear to the thief what was that "more" and that's what he had been trying to figure out, ever since he had kissed the boy in his sleep. 

Sure the boy was nice to look at and Bakura was sure that he had been caught doing that more than once, but never did the other bring it up. He concluded that it was because he either didn't care or wasn't otherwise bothered by it. Though the child did seem to be a bit on edge every time he caught him staring...

He should stop, just stop and think about something else entirely but it was easier said than done, especially since they shared their living space with each other. Speaking of sharing living space; Bakura had noted the change in Malik's sleeping habits. He would sleep much closer and sometimes partly on top of him, which was a bit awkward because if Bakura were to wake up, he could never go back to sleep. Maybe he should ask him about it... That could reveal something interesting. Or then it would just reveal something like it was too cold to sleep in the building...

* * *

"I seriously want to know but I'm not sure what I should do..." Pharaoh had became Malik's almost constant listener of daily rants. The horse never minded his company and always listened what he had to say. "It's nice to have his attention but he could like, talk to me or something once in a while... What do you think? Should I just go right ahead and ask about it?" 

The horse kept eating his hey, ears towards the boy but of course didn't answer. Malik sighed. "You're really nice and all but sometimes I just wish you could talk..." The boy said to the horse. "It would make things easier, you know. I would someone to advise me." He sighed again. "You probably never have problems like this. It must be easy to be a horse, just eat and take people around... and if you ever meet another horse you like, you can just make baby horses with her." Malik then realized where he was taking this one sided conversation. "I don't mean that I like him like that! At least I don't think..." He looked down. "How am I supposed to know if I do or don't?" The horse, not so surprisingly, had no comment on that.

Malik got up from the ground he had been sitting on. "You are not helpful!" Pharaoh looked at him, puzzled of why was he being yelled at. "I'm sorry boy... I didn't mean that, you are the world's best listener." The boy petted the horse. "I just need to... I should talk to him tonight like I planned to." His voice was determent now. "Yes, he will have to explain his behavior to me and then we can just go back to be like we were, right?" No answer. "Right."

Pharaoh just kept munching on his food loudly and Malik realized that he was hungry too. He had not eaten anything since that morning and decided that he should so he started to head back to the building. It was well past midday now but it was, of course, still hot, it was always hot, except by night when it was cold... The boy found himself wondering why did people live here at all but just shrugged it of as something that just was so. Many things seemed to be like that... Like the fact that he had started to like the thief at all in the first place, he just had and couldn't explain it.

* * *

Bakura had kept himself busy the whole day but now he was actually tired. He lay down and sighed deeply. Now he had to think since he couldn't do anything else, or maybe he was too tired to do that... That would be nice for a change... 

Malik was somewhere, he should get back before it got dark. And because he really needed to talk to him about... stuff. Ask a few questions maybe.

"Um, Bakura?"

The thief turned to look at the boy who had just stepped into the room and was looking a bit shy about something. Malik came to sit next to him and glanced between the floor and him.

"Can I ask you something?" The boy asked carefully.

"..Sure." He just wondered what could it be...

"Uh well... Actually I a few questions..." Malik paused. "Are bothered by me sleeping closer to you? Because if you are I could... not do that... And what's with the staring? I've been wondering that for a while and it would be nice to know... And how do you know if you like someone? I mean, like that, like, like like?" He spoke very quickly and at first the thief just blinked.

"Uh... Come again?" Bakura had to think back on the questions.

"Don't make me say all that again..." Malik mumbled.

"Well... About the sleeping; not... much... I mean you don't have to... do anything about it..." Why was he being so awkward about this? "I have been staring? I haven't noticed..." A suspicious look from the boy. "Stop looking at me like that."

"But-"

"Let me answer everything first." Bakura interrupted. "Why are you asking about liking someone?"

"I just want to know..." Malik didn't look at the other.

"Ok... I don't like people so I'm not the best person to ask from. What made you wonder about that anyway?" That he really wanted to know. Was the boy crushing on someone?

Malik blushed, still not looking up from his hands. "There was something that made me think... I had this dream..."

"Oh? What kind of dream?"

"Ah well..." The boy looked really awkward now, fiddling with his fingers and looking around, as if looking for a way out.

"Well?" The thief pressed on, curious now.

Malik mumbled something inaudible really quickly and turned very red. Bakura didn't quite hear that so he asked again and the boy looked about ready to die out of embarrassment.

"Ihadadreamwhereyoukissedme." The boy said, still very quickly but at least it was audible now.

"Oh." Well damn. "When did you see it?" The thief asked quietly.

"D-does that matter?"

"Kind of..." He looked away from the boy's red face. "It might not have been a dream..."

Now Malik finally looked at him again, a bit confused. "What do you mean?"

Bakura glanced at the boy and his mind went 'to hell with it' and he placed his hands on each side of the boy's face and bent down a bit to capture his lips. Malik's eyes went wide like saucers and he seemed frozen in place. The thief pulled away quickly to look into the wide eyes.

"That night, after we came back from the town... I kissed you while you were asleep." He paused to search for any disgusted feelings. When he found none, he continued. "Because... I think that you're, kind of... special.." That had been very difficult to actually say out loud. "Maybe I shouldn't have... I didn't have your permission..."

"T-that's ok." Malik said with a small smile, though still looking a bit taken back. "I didn't really mind..." He blushed again.

Bakura looked a bit surprised now but allowed a smile to slip on his face. "Good." He kissed the boy's forehead this time and felt the smaller body relax a bit under his touch.

Malik wrapped his arms around the other's neck to a hug. "I... I think I know how do you know if you like someone now..." He whispered, making the thief smile again.

"I'm glad I could teach you."

* * *

**A/N:** Aw :) Man, I feel all fluffyfied now xD 

**Please review!!**


	11. Chapter 11 Just kind of being

**A/N: **I finally got my lazy self dragged in front of the computer so I could write this, yay... Now that it's winter break I'm even lazier with my writing than I was when I still had school work to do and I haven't really been able to find the right mood... So now that I've found it, I will probably just do this all with one sitting...

* * *

Neither really knew what being together would bring or mean. It wasn't like it was official though... They just kind of... were. It wasn't a thing that could be easily explained, like things involving deeper emotions usually tended to be. But even though if someone asked about them and they wouldn't be able to explain it, it wasn't all that complicated. In the end their relationship with each other hadn't even changed all that much. They still some times annoyed each other, teased and argued. It was all natural and a part of it all. 

The change, how small it might be, was still there. In the lingering touches, looks, words, small kisses that were only exchanged when no one else was around. Apart from the occasional shows of affection, it was all pretty unphysical. Of course that was understandable seeing Malik's age and all...

It was the perfect opposite of any so-called relationship Bakura had ever had. Everything had always been physical, no deeper emotions involved. Now however, it was the other way around and even if it was weird to him, it was all good. It was better.

Like now when the smaller body was seated on his lap, back against chest, holding his hand while pointing at the shapes that were supposedly on the ceiling. Malik had been hell bent on taking the thief cloud watching but as there hadn't been any clouds in the sky lately, this was the next best thing, the boy had decided. Bakura failed to see the point in this but since this was something the boy really seemed to think was important, he had decided to play along. It was not like he had anything better to do right now than to watch dried blood on the ceiling and listen how Malik told that it looked like something varying from horses to people or plants.

"What does that look like to you?" The boy asked suddenly, stopping his ramble about something or other the thief hadn't really been listening with a full ear. Malik bent his head to look at the other curiously.

"Uh, I don't know." Was all he could say though he didn't even know what the boy was referring to.

Malik sighed and shook his head a bit, pointing up again. "That, see?" Then he looked hopefully at Bakura again, waiting for an answer, preferably something else than 'I don't know' this time.

"It looks like..." The thief began but trailed off. What did it look like? "...a stain of blood..."

"We don't have to do this if you don't want to..." Malik said, trying not to sound too sad or disappointed. "It's probably not fun at all to you and I should go to sleep already anyway..." He made a move to get off but was stopped by an arm wrapping around him.

"Wait." Bakura started, placing his chin on Malik's shoulder. "It sort of look like a person, with the lines spreading from it as limbs. See?" He motioned towards the ceiling with his eyes and the boy looked up, eyes lighting up.

"Oh, it does! I knew you would be good at this." Malik smiled though it was difficult to direct it to the other with their faces so close.

"Well, it feels sort of stupid to me..." The thief mumbled, still failing to see what was the point and voiced his thoughts too. "What's the point?"

For a moment the boy looked at him like he was stupid. "There's no point, that's the point. It's supposed to be fun and... relaxing, it doesn't need a point because then it wouldn't be as fun."

He just looked back rather flatly. "Either it's just me or that didn't make any sense."

Malik smirked a bit with a teasing glint in his eyes. "It's just you." He stated and for a short moment, Bakura could see a hint of himself on that face. It made him feel strangely proud for reasons he didn't quite understand.

"Okay, if you need a reason, I just thought it would be nice if we did something together..." The boy looked away near the end of that sentence.

After a short while of silence, the thief decided that it would be good if he had some kind of comment to that. "Good thinking." He said and kissed the boy's neck quickly, making the other blush but smile. It was nice to have that kind of effect, even if the gesture was so small as it had been.

"So you won't mind?" Malik asks, hopeful expression firmly in place.

"No, not really."

"Good." With that established, the boy directs his gaze back to the ceiling and points again. "And that?" He asks shortly but both understand so there's really no point in making a full sentence.

They continued like that for a good while before it became too boring just to sit inside. It's time to do something where there is a point after all and one can't just sit around all day when there's things to be done.

* * *

It rained that night. After months worth of sun and dryness it poured down real hard for a few minutes. It made it impossible to sleep when the drops of water hit the roof and walls, some of the water raining into the building as well. They were really lucky that the building was located on a bit higher ground so it did flood like the dried river near by did. 

The rain was refreshing in all its shortness but they were sure that when the sun would rise the next morning, it would all dry in a matter of minutes.

Malik was watching through the window the whole time the water came down, fascinated. He had decided to stay up all night and wait till the sun raised, then go out and see how it all looked before it would dry up again. He was a bit worried about Pharaoh since the horse was out in the rain but Bakura had assured him that the animal could take care of himself. It had lessened the boy's worry but he couldn't help but wonder if the horse would truly be ok...

"But what if he drowns or something?" He asked from the older male who was seated farther back in the room, avoiding getting wet.

"He won't, he's not totally stupid even though he may look it."

Malik smiled a bit at the comment and directed his attention back out so he wouldn't miss seeing the rain. There was something beautiful about it. It was pretty in an untamed sort of way. He glanced at Bakura who looked suspiciously like he was brooding.

"What's the matter?" The boy asked. "Don't like rain?"

The thief 'hmph'ed. "What's there to like?"

"Well, it's pretty and um... keeps things alive." The boy wasn't sure how to word the rain's likability but he gave it a shot and it came out lamely. Great... Bakura just snorted but didn't comment on it. Malik turned back to the window once again only to notice that the rain had stopped. He was a bit disappointed that he missed most of it thanks to Bakura. He frowned but then his face brightened when the dark gray clouds slowly revealed the starlit night sky. He had to admit that it rivaled the rain and maybe even beat it in beauty.

"Oooh, it's so pretty..." He voiced his thoughts and stared wide eyed.

"It's nothing special. It looks the same every night." The thief said flatly and Malik glared at him.

"You just don't appreciate things. It's different since it couldn't be seen from behind the clouds just moments ago." He wasn't about to let some grumpy thief ruin this for him. "I thought that you, out of all people, could appreciate pretty things." The boy told.

"I appreciate you, don't I?" The thief questioned and made Malik turn to look at him. The boy blinked in confusion at first before a pink tint adored his cheeks and he looked down a bit shyly, smiling.

"I guess..." He mumbled, not being used to be told that he was pretty, even though those weren't the exact words used but still. He would have had be an idiot not to realize what the other had meant.

* * *

In the morning after the rain, the boy ran out of the building to catch a glimpse of the refreshed desert. He was glad that he had too, he had stayed up and waited for morning, even though Bakura had told him to go to sleep several times. There were green patches here and there and the lone cactus on the side of the building was blooming. In a few minutes all the new life that had taken over the sands was gone and everything looked the same again. It had still been worth it never the less. 

Malik was awfully tired, only noticing it now when he was less excited and he decided that maybe now he could go and get some sleep. He walked back inside or was about to when he remembered that he had yet to check on Pharaoh. Malik sprinted through the sand as fast as he could to where he had last see the horse.

"Pharaoh!" He called as he ran, hoping that his friend would be ok. He was relieved to see the horse galloping to him from the distance. It looked still a bit wet but otherwise ok. The horse stopped in front of him and whined. "I'm so glad to see you." The boy hugged the animal.

"I told you he would be just fine." Came Bakura's voice from a small distance away. "You just wouldn't listen to me."

"I never will and you know it." Malik grinned teasingly, letting go of the horse. "I just wanted to check on him, that's all. I think I'm going to sleep now though." He yawned and gave the horse a last pat before starting to head back. The thief stayed behind with his horse as Malik walked to the building, to their room and laid on top of his blanket. It was too hot now to wrap it around himself anyway.

Now that he could finally sleep, he fell asleep very quickly, letting the world go on without him for a while. He was sure that the world could manage that.

Meanwhile, if Malik had been there he would have discovered that he wasn't the only one who liked to talk to Pharaoh.

"...I'm being stupid really... to feel for him even though he would be much better off without me. I mean, all I have to offer is a life of a wanted criminal, not exactly good for a small boy." The horse just listened patiently as always. "That leads us to our next topic too; he's like, what? Thirteen, you think that would be a problem? Of course it would..." That was bothering him to some extent and he wondered if it bothered the boy, though he had never shown it if it did...

Pharaoh didn't comment and barely reacted at all. Bakura sighed. "Maybe I'm just thinking too much into it or something..."

Then a man came running to him, yelling his name and stopping out of breath when he reached him.

"What is it?" Bakura asked and the other man pointed something in the horizon.

"They..." Was all he said.

The thief turned to look at what the other was pointing. There was sand flying in the distance in a small looking cloud, indicating that they had visitors.

"Get everyone ready to leave and fast." Bakura told, getting a hasty nod, and ran to get Malik, Pharaoh and the other man in tow.

* * *

**A/N: **It's cliffhanger time! Oh and the next chapter will possibly be the last one ; ; It's ending already... Well, tell me what you think :) 

**Please review!!**


	12. Chapter 12 If you love someone

**A/N:** The last chapter! Now it seems very likely that there will be a sequel to this, I even have the title thought out, the plot will still need some work but I'm pretty sure I'll write it, though I'm not starting right away because I need a break. Thank you for reading and reviewing!

* * *

"_Tickle torture!"_

"_Noooh! Have mercy!" _

_Malik had just caught his "evil" sister who had "forced" him to play a dress up game with her. The boy had always been faster than his sister, even though Isis had longer legs and should have been able to run faster. Too bad for her that she wasn't._

"_No mercy for you!"_

_He could distantly see Rishid keeping an eye on them, watching with amusement on his usually expressionless face. They both laughed like there was no tomorrow and to them there wasn't, at least not one they should worry about. _

_Isis attempted to escape from her little brother but it proved unsuccessful as she was caught again. Rishid shook his head and saw that the sun was beginning to set slowly. It would be better for them to go inside. _

"_Hey, let's go already. Malik you can torture your sister more some other time." _

_Both younger children looked up from their play and got up from the sand, dusting each other off. Just when Isis had turned to run inside with Malik in tow, she called out to her brother:_

"_Malik wake the hell up already!" _

The boy woke up with a start, looking around quickly. He was shaken by Bakura who looked relieved for a millisecond before getting up and packing a few things from his pile of goods.

"Get up, now! We're leaving." He said to the confused boy who blinked his tired eyes.

"What's going on?" Malik asked and yelped when he was lifted up from his spot. What could have happened to cause them to leave in such a hurry? He sure hoped it was nothing bad.

"No time to explain." The older male told and lifted the boy on Pharaoh's back before getting up himself. The dust cloud in the horizon was getting bigger and bigger. Malik too noticed it now and his eyes widened. This was bad...

"Split up! We'll meet at meeting place!" The thief yelled over the sound of running feet and horse hooves.

Pharaoh got off the second everyone and everything was securely on his back, probably somehow understanding the seriousness of the situation too. The boy was once again seated in front of the other and held on to the horse's hair with his other hand to make sure he wouldn't fall off, though Bakura was making sure of that too by holding him in place. The boy's hand that wasn't holding on, was tightly gripping the dark wooden horse; he couldn't leave his most priced possession behind after all.

Malik could see from the corner of his eye that all the people who had been gathered into the building went off to their own directions. The dust cloud had gotten close enough to see that there were people riding before and inside it. Rather angry looking people too, with spears and arrows. The boy had never seen anything like it and stared behind them as they rode on.

"Look in front of you unless you want to fall." Bakura half whispered, half hissed to his ear and Malik turned his head back around to look in front of him. The horse galloped so quickly that it was all one big blur fro the poor boy. He had never seen Pharaoh run so fast but it was good to know that he could possibly outran the chasers. A few of them were following them, others apparently gone to chase someone else. They were yelling curses at them and at their horses to go faster, attempting to get close enough to throw a spear or shoot an arrow.

"Don't worry, Pharaoh can outrun their mules any time." The thief said to his ear and as Malik glanced back at him, he could see a strange gleam in the other's eyes and as an arrow missed them by a good few centimeters, a smirk played on his lips. The boy suspected that he was enjoying this, getting some kind of kick out of being chased by angry armed guys. That was weird to Malik but he didn't question it. He had more important things to worry about, like what would happen if they got caught.

Even in all his worry the boy noticed how the horse had his other ear directed behind them while the other was forward in an almost casual manner. The pace of gallop seemed to slow down a bit and arrows whirled past them, one just past his ear, before the horse quickened his pace and got out of range again. Bakura laughed. A realization hit him.

They were just playing with them.

Malik frowned as the horse slowed down again just before they reached a cliff that rose high above them. An arrow whirled. They sped up and turned to go behind the cliff. Something warm ran down Malik's cheek. The arrow had scraped Bakura's arm and Malik's cheek, just barely missing them before they had disappeared behind the cliff.

Now both the thief and his horse seemed to have enough of playing and the horse sped up. In the end Malik wasn't really sure how they lost their chasers but he concluded that Pharaoh had truly outran them. Now they were moving in a much slower pace as the horse seemed a bit tired and so were the riders. Malik had no idea where they were going but he trusted Bakura to take them to somewhere safe.

* * *

And somewhere safe they were going. Safe for Malik at least. 

The blood that dripped down the boy's cheek and the thief's arm worked as a painful reminder of what kind of life he led and how he led it. The thrill of the chase, even though he hadn't been the one chasing, had gotten the better of him and such thing as safety hadn't even crossed his mind. Safety, just one of those things he could not offer to the one he held so close to his heart.

He was reckless, rash and all the other qualities that weren't good for someone who was supposed to take care of someone else, like a young, growing boy.

He concluded that he must be crazy or really in love, possibly both, to make such a decision but if they kept heading to the direction they were at the moment, they would end up in the town Bakura had taken Malik from, all that time ago.

Bakura had told nothing of their destination to the boy, he would just protest and make things even more difficult than they already were. It was hard enough as it was and the only thing keeping him to his decision was the small but still bleeding wound marring Malik's pretty face.

They would reach the town after dark, which was good because he really didn't want to take another risk. The chances of them being noticed then were small, almost slim to none.

"Where are we going?" Came the tired voice of Malik.

"Somewhere safe." Bakura just said, not looking at the boy as he answered.

"Oh ok."

"You sleep some before we get there, it's a long way still and you didn't sleep last night." Then he glanced at the boy. "How's your cheek?"

Malik lifted his fingers to touch his cheek. "It's fine." He said and yawned, leaning back into the thief and letting himself fall asleep. The wooden horse was kept to his chest and Bakura eyed it. He was happy that the boy held it in such a high value and that he would have something to remember him by. If he even wanted to remember him... It would be ok if he wouldn't, though Bakura would remember Malik, probably for the rest of his life. It would be better for the boy to move on and find someone for himself to start a family with, someone closer to his age and in whose company he would be safe.

* * *

It was dark when the town came to sight, the small, lit fires making it stand out in the darkness. Malik was still asleep. Bakura sighed, it would be easier if he wouldn't wake up at all. The thief could just leave him somewhere near the town and when the boy woke up, he would be long gone. Luck wouldn't have it that way though and the boy stirred awake, rubbing his eyes. 

"Bakura? Where..." The question died as the boy gazed at the town, eyes widening and mouth gapping slightly. "Are we..? Why..?"

The thief got off the horse and helped the boy down as well. "Malik, listen..." He started but never got further than that as the boy in question attached himself to him.

"No! You are going to leave me here!" Malik sobbed and yelled, hanging onto Bakura like he was his last life line.

"Malik don't... please don't..." This was hard enough as it was, he didn't need this.

"No... no... I don't want to stay here anymore... I want to come with you!"

"But your family is here. I thought you missed them." Bakura pushed the boy away from himself by the shoulders and knelt down enough to look into the tear stained eyes, they were as beautiful as ever. "It's much safer for you here, with your family, they can take care of you."

"So can you! And... and I-I will miss you more..." The boy said quietly, looking down. Bakura hadn't even been aware that he had a heart a few weeks back and now it was being broken by the sight.

"Look at me." He shook the shoulders he was still holding slightly, making the boy look back at him. "I will miss you too, I won't forget." He held up the small wooden horse for the boy. "Take good care if mini-Pharaoh, ok?"

Malik took the horse back hesitantly, studied it for a second before hugging the other, who let him. "I... I love you..." The boy whispered in Bakura's ear, voice cracking a bit. The man eased his grip on him gently, pushing him away again to face him.

"And I you." He whispered before pulling him close for a kiss. For the first time he allowed himself to taste the boy, tongue going past the willing lips, running past the teeth and meeting shortly with the smaller one. As he pulled away, he pressed the spot on the other's neck that made him go lax and fall asleep.

The boy was carried to the edge of the town and a random sounding shout alerted the town's people of the boy as the one who had left him there disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

-

* * *

A young boy of sixteen walked through the town he lived in, had lived in all his life, though rumor has it that he was once kidnapped by a thief but brought back by some miracle, perfectly unharmed too. Though the boy had done nothing but cry the first few days after he had been brought back, some say it was because of shock but nobody really knew better. 

He had grown from the childish little boy into a handsome you man with a tongue as quick as his feet. He was never truly rude but he wasn't exactly polite either, not hesitating to shoot a bitting remark to anyone who rubbed him the wrong way. The teen was good with horses, apparently, so he was often allowed to take care of any bigger animals that crossed the town or who were owned by the town's people.

The teen, Malik, had yet to find himself someone special to spend his life with though it wasn't for the lack of willing candidates, no, he just never seemed to take any particular interest in anyone. That seemed weird to most but it wasn't like he didn't have time to find someone for himself so they left him be, the girls that is. Or if they didn't or couldn't take a polite hint, they cried and left him alone, after being ever-so-offhandedly insulted by his sharp tongue.

The dark wooden horse he had been found with still sat on by his window, looking out to the horizon. Isis, who had been made priestess, didn't question his little brother about the way he some times gazed out to the same direction as he wooden horse did.

Now Malik was on his way to the well to get some water for the horses of some trading group passing by. He had just reached the well that was just outside the town when he happened to look up for some reason, perhaps intuition or something else.

In the distance, a dust cloud was moving in fast speed. Then, as he gazed at the dark horse and rider creating the cloud, they stopped, just close enough for him to make out some features. Malik's eyes widened just like they had always used to when he had been a small child, sparkling with the sun rays. His mouth opened to form the one word he hadn't said in all these past three years,

"Bakura..."

* * *

**A/N:** That is so different from all my other endings... It's a good thing I guess. I hope you don't think it totally sucks though -.-'' Well, that was it, I guess you can wait for the sequel though I'm not sure how long I'm going to have you wait. 

**Please review!!**


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